Lehmann Rigi 900 Cable Car

This has sold.We can let you know if we find something similar. Just tell us - you do not have to buy anything!

What's for sale?

This is a 1960s, German, tinplate, toy cable car by Lehmann. It's in its original box and has all the necessary cabling and pulleys, so it can still be used as a toy.

It has a painted, tinplate body in red, white and blue, clear plastic windows and silver and black plastic parts for the roof and A-frame.

Tiny writing in red and white say "MADE IN WESTERN GERMANY" and "D.B.G.M" (the patent mark). "RIGI" is printed on the door, on the other side. The Lehmann logo is a monogram of the initials E P and L within a press and is found at both ends.

It comes with a plastic cord, which acts as the cable, and a fully-working, manual cranking system to wind the car up and down the line. The line has to be kept taut, so at the high end is a pulley with a loop to hang it by and at the bottom, the red plastic base needs to be held down. There are four screw holes or a clamp could be used.

We've seen toy cable cars used as fun ceiling decorations. You can string it up as intended, or just hang it from a hook. It wasn't produced with lighting, but adding lights brings it to life at night. We hang one up as part of our Christmas decorations and use a battery powered string of LEDs. We're including some LEDs to get you started.

Who made it and when?

The German toy maker Lehmann was founded in 1881 by Ernst Paul Lehmann. They were very successful because their colourful, lithographed tin toys were lighter and easier to play with than the competition's iron toys.

Johannes Richter, a cousin of Ernst, joined the company in the early 1920s and it was one of his trips to the Alps, which inspired their toy cable car. There were several versions of the toy, the first being the 795 made in 1928. This is the 900 from the 1960s.